Battle for Sularia is an exciting strategy card game filled with tons of deep strategy, card synergies, and combos. Many which can be easily overlooked by players. The beauty of these five cards listed below is that your opponent will most likely not be prepared to handle them.

Number 5

Bergheim "The Wolf's Den"

Illustration by: Filip Dudek

The Battle Begins and Blood, Profit, and Glory both delivered outstanding Jotune cards, but one of the most overlooked cards in the sets was the Type 1 Site Bergheim. Bergheim is the home of house Hrothgar and provides each Jotune site with a +0/+2 to its stats. This makes many of the Jotune sites very large and more difficult for an opponent to take out in an attack.

Coming in at a whopping 6 Influence, Bergheim normally be too late in the game to have an impact, but many overlook a very powerful ability on Lord Oathki "The Hawk." Jotune players are very likely already using Lord Oathki "The Hawk" and can find his ability to not be part of their normal plan. With Bergheim, Lord Oathki is capable of dropping the site for 5 Influence versus 6. Oathki's ability is very powerful in a capable battle commanders hands as it enables Bergheim to drop onto the battlefield at a very pivotable moment.

Bergheim's defenses are massive with its base defense at 14 it is the largest defensive site in the game. Combined with its own ability Bergheim is capable of reaching as high as 16 defense. Let's not forget to take a close look at Lord Fenris who synergizes perfectly with "The Wolf's Den" and provides an additional +0/+1 to your Jotune sites. Bergheim combined with it's Lord has a total of 17 defense , making a lone Hekaton Warhulk weep as it cannot get through its defenses.

Number 4

Fire from the Sky

Illustration by: Ascary Lazos

Often overlooked for sexier condition cards such as Art of War, Fire from the Sky synergizes perfectly and can completely change the scope of combat in Battle for Sularia. With each flying combatant able to provide an additional two points of damage to an adjacent site, Fire from the Sky is the perfect resource denial tool.

Solomon Fayd, an Exsularian, knows exactly how painful Fire from the Sky can be as the Jotune destroyed his whole tribe from the volleys. One of the common misconceptions about the card is how it works in multiples.

Each copy of Fire from the Sky provides the Jotune flier with two separate triggers of Barrage 1:2. Which means that a Jotune player can either deal 2 damage to 2 separate sites or deal four damage to 1 site. What this means is that each copy of Fire from the Sky acts in a similar fashion to Art of War in so much that it provides two additional damage, assuming that you have that type 1 Jotune combatant in play to enable Art of War's maximum +2/+2.

The Jotune can leverage 5 of their 11 combatants found inside of the Battle Begins and Blood, Profit, and Glory to enable Fire from the Sky and its potency. Lets also not forget the Synergy of Fire from the Sky combined with a Vassad Saboteur for the ultimate direct damage output.

Number 3

Gray Harrier

Illustration by: Tots

Gray Harriers are often forgone for high impact 3 construction cost combatants such as Lady Worgana, Lord Oathki, and even Dr. Lehner "Time Hopper." Often bypassed for these cards the power of a 2/1 flying combatant for one sularium is quite easy to look past.

The Jotune are a faction that typically has to survive using cunning and wits because they are unlikely to win the resource battle against the Synthien and the now alpha released Protoan and Exsularian. Because of this, each turn should be about maximum sularium efficiency and players should be trying to get as many dangerous Jotune combatants on the battlefield as necessary.

In other competitive card games, the value of a 2/1 flier for one resource is an obvious shoe-in because sites do not exist in those games. In Battle for Sularia, the Grey Harrier is not really an early game card, but instead a mid-game support engine. They are great to land on the battlefield on turn one or two, and in some rare instances, the Gray Harrier player may actually get to deal 2 undefended damage to their opponent on turn 2. But their real power is understated until the Art of War comes online.

Starting on turn 4 with the play of Art of War, each Gray Harrier grows to match a Cloud Falcon in attack power for 1/3 the resource cost. If there type 1 on the board than each Grey Harrier instantly becomes a Red Condor, for 1/4 the resource cost. Many competitive players will attest to the power of the Grey Harrier, but will also argue that they are too expensive in the deck builds.

As we stated before Gray Harrier's are excellent enablers of the condition card Fire from the Sky. They are arguably the best proponents for pushing Fire from the Sky to its maximum potential since it can be done as early as your turn 3 if you can land the coveted turn 2 Lord Oathki, into turn 3 Storm Citadel. Instantly you have a whopping 11 attack and 4 barrage damage to play with.

In your next Jotune build, consider how to play 3 - 4 copies of Grey Harrier and how it can drastically up your attack potential going into the late mid game and into the final rounds.

Number 2

Cloud Stronghold

Illustration by: John Kimmel

Cloud Stronghold is a card illustrated by our very own John Kimmel and an excellent overall choice in Jotune decks for a couple of key reasons.

First, many Synthien and Jotune competitive players are incorporating It's a Trap into their decks because of the defensive firepower it offers and the ability to remain on the offensive. Many times It's a Trap can two for one your Jotune combatants, which leaves the Jotune in a bad position from a tempo perspective.

There are very few effective answers to powerful tactic plays insides of The Battle Begins and Blood, Profit, and Glory. However, Cloud Stronghold can serve as an excellent answer to the tactic card. If your opponent drops It's a Trap, give your combatant alpha strike, so instead of losing the combatant to the alpha strike damage of the site, your combatant can still deal damage and potentially kill the site, leaving your opponent in a more critical state.

Secondly, Cloud Stronghold serves as a very powerful defensive card for lining up your Jotune combatants against attackers. Many players underestimate the value of an alpha strike defender, but the impact on the attacking combatant can be enormous. I have seen on multiple occasions a Cloud Falcon and a Vassad Saboteur eliminate a Hekaton Warhulk before it even got to deal its damage. Don't have the Saboteur? No problem an It's a Trap of your own plus an Alpha Striking Gray Harrier or Cloud Falcon and say goodbye to even the highest defense attacking units in the game.

Cloud Stronghold can even be played as early as turn 3 to come online with your It's a Trap's by simply getting your Lord Oathki "The Hawk" into play as soon as possible. Many savvy Jotune deck builders have reduced the number of Security Posts in their deck build to add Storm Citadel, and Cloud Stronghold can also be easily added to these lists as well. It's also important to understand the value of the base two attack of the Cloud Stronghold and how it further synergizes with It's a Trap.

Number 1

Bolthorn Warlord

Illustration by: Ascary Lazos

Bolthorn Warlord, received its own deck builders challenge on our Punch-It Entertainment YouTube channel last year. You can find that video below, where now lead developer Neil Mohlman and myself discuss the merits of the Bolthorn Warlord for the Jotune.

The Bolthorn Warlord was found in many early Jotune deck builds because of its statistics and powerful abilities. It was abandoned rather quickly in favor of Lord Oathki "The Hawk" and Lord Fenris "The Wolf." Both are excellent choices but the Bolthorn Warlord could be used in lieu of Art of War altogether. Theoretically, Bolthorn is a more powerful combatant buff than Art of War, but it is more susceptible to powerful abilities such as Centropolis.

Players going the route of Bolthorn Warlord over Art of War should consider leveraging Evasion only for their warlords and building up a sizable attack force very early, in order to enable Bolthorn Warlord to be played using Strength in Numbers. Fortunately, the Jotune are well equipped for this using Gray Harrier, Sheild of Hrothgar, and Vassad Saboteur. These combatants can easily be half of your total combatant list, which further reduces the sularium cost of the entire deck. Making it easier to flood the field with helpers that will all benefit from the powerful Bolthorn Warlord.

Forgoing Art of War in the build is a risk, but one that could pay off in dividends, if you also consider ditching the powerful Lord Oathki "The Hawk" in favor of Verker "The Berserker." Bolthorn Warlord is one of the few buffing cards that does not care about faction when applying the buff, making Verker a very key component to the overall power of the deck.

We hope this article has helped you as a player to consider options that maybe were left in the binders or deck boxes in the past. Many of these cards are very powerful and when thought about, and when players leverage them, they can be outright game changers. Particularly if your opponent is a seasoned Battle for Sularia player. These cards are simply not cards that many players account for and cannot be handled by all the tools in your opponents deck boxes, as many build more "meta" lists.

Do you have a favorite card not mentioned on this list? Let us know about it below in the comments section.